Grant Bovey is best known as Anthea Turner’s husband and, badly scarred by the press in the past, he is understandably wary of journalists. But get him talking about his passion for property and he soon lets his guard down.

And nor is the mention of his wife gratuitous. Although she is not involved in Imagine Homes, his latest business, she is closely involved with its sister company, Imagine Furnishings, more of which later.

Imagine Homes itself was specifically formed to offer what Bovey believes to be the perfect formula for residential property investors.

It is Bovey’s first foray into the world of buy-to-let. Nottingham born, he first went into business in his home city selling ladies’ fashions before deciding at 22 that he ought to go and seek his fortune in London.

"I had no game plan," he recalls. "It was just something I thought I should do." He landed a job at

Braveworld, a film acquisition company where he became sales director: "It was fantastic, travelling the world, buying films." Braveworld was the only company he has ever worked for - he has otherwise always worked for himself.

After Braveworld, he left to form Watershed Pictures, a TV production company that was another interesting venture: he worked closely with Nigel Mansell and the company held worldwide rights to Football Association images. After ten years, he sold that company and started another, which offered a European football database. He sold that after a year and then his thoughts turned to property.

"I had considered property investment but judged it to be too risky. Also, I couldn’t be bothered to look for tenants, mend the taps and replace the settee. I decided I was basically a bit lazy.

"So, I turned the whole thing on its head and began to work out what would make me personally want to invest in property.

"I decided I wanted absolutely no hassle, good returns and guaranteed growth. And I didn’t want to be called out at 3pm on a Sunday if the washing machine broke down.

"So, I came up with the concept, and that was the easy bit. The hard part was trying to make it work commercially."

He says it helped that he had worked in television: "The keyword in that industry is creativity. When I looked at the property sector, I thought it was very uncreative. Look in the Sunday Times property section and you’ll find pages of adverts, all saying the same things.

"People in the industry are very set in their ways and blinkered: what we have been able to do is different."

Imagine Homes was set up in 2003 and the whole premise behind it is to provide investors with an effortless one-stop shop offering a turn-key solution. Everything, but everything, is taken care of.

The deal certainly sounds inviting. Investors are guaranteed two years of rental income at 15 per cent of the purchase price. Each year, for the first two years, they get paid a cash lump sum equal to 7.5 per cent of the cost of the property.

There are no complicated deposits to work out, with £10,000 payable in advance on each property, regardless of value.

Nor do investors have to find tenants, since part of the deal is that the properties are rented back to Imagine Homes for two years and it is they who find tenants and then manage the tenancies and the buildings.

"We are basically taking a big risk on the rental market, but there is no risk for you, the investor. The theory is that everyone wins," says Bovey.

Fixtures, fittings and white goods are all included and there is furniture designed by Anthea herself.

But what happens after two years? Investors can decide whether to sell the property, take over the management of it themselves, or get Imagine to continue renting and managing it on their behalf for a fee. Apparently, 95 per cent of Imagine’s investors opt to keep the tenants and continue with Imagine.

This seems understandable, given that property prices of new apartments have fallen back and so investors won’t have seen the capital growth they would have liked. Bovey agrees that the market is currently very flat, but this suits him fine.

"This is a great time to buy and there are deals to be done. This year, we’ll have bought £100 million worth of property," he says.

But he does not see the market staying subdued for long: "I think it will bounce back at the end of this year or early next.

"Interest rates are on their way down and the change in legislation to Self Invested Pension Plans (SIPPs) will be a huge boost, because for the first time people will be able to put residential property into their pensions."

He looks for good quality developments to buy one year ahead of completion, with properties worth between £120,000 and £500,000. The purchases are only made after considerable research by the sixstrong acquisition team, particularly into local rental demand: "And then we sell some of the properties on to other people and keep what’s left."

The vehicle that does this is another company owned by Bovey, Veritas, which has so far kept about £30 million worth of property and whose purpose is to build a very large buy-tolet portfolio.

He says that this ‘hoovering up’ operation is a major reassurance for investors: "They recognise that we would clearly not buy any development that we didn’t feel confident about for ourselves."

Imagine has bought and is buying developments all over the country - Bristol, Middlesex, Manchester, Sheffield as well as London. He discloses he is currently eyeing up Liverpool. Potential investors are kept in the loop as they are able to join a free investor club which gives them a two or three week lead over others.

However, Bovey says that currently Imagine has comparatively little for sale: "We have only about 30 to 40 properties on our books physically for sale. This time a year ago, we had close to 200 for sale, but we will be up to 250 by October."

Imagine’s investor clients are wooed by the interior design services on offer, Imagine Furnishings, into which Anthea Turner has considerable input. "She enjoys it: she is very good at it and she is a home-maker," says Bovey.

Anthea also designs a range of furniture, At Home, which is durable and solid. Although currently available only to Imagine clients, there is a strong possibility that this could be spun off to the wider market.

A two-bed apartment essentially costs £8,000 to furnish and equip, he says.

Imagine and Veritas have a combined quarter-billion pound annual turnover and have grown rapidly, employing 50 people at its headquarters in Farnborough, Hampshire, and a further five in Dubai: "They service the rest of the world. There is a lot of overseas investor interest in London," says Bovey. "Thirty per cent of our sales are to overseas buyers."

Such has been the expansion that Bovey is now on the brink of bringing in an equity partner to help fund further growth. An operation such as his is not cheap: a £1 million marketing campaign kicks off in the autumn.

There is no doubt that Bovey thoroughly enjoys his business: "It has been a steep learning curve but I am loving every minute."

And indeed he has convinced himself sufficiently to become a landlord: "I personally now have a portfolio of 12 properties and it’s easy - I buy them all from Imagine Homes."

The one thing he can’t change, apparently, is his press. Every year, he and Anthea hold a ball at their own home in aid of charity, raising up to £400,000. It is not exactly something they have to do, so do the media give praise where, let’s face it, it is more than due? Do they heck.

Bovey sighs and says he has had to learn to live with it.